一勺糖能治好打嗝吗?

Hiccups often hit without warning and are pretty annoying, especially when they seem like they will not stop. You've probably heard of a dozen hiccup remedies, but do any of them actually work?

打嗝经常毫无预兆地发生，而且非常烦人，尤其是当它们看起来不会停止的时候。你可能听说过一打打嗝疗法，但它们真的有效吗?

Hiccups are caused by a spasm in your diaphragm, the muscle that separates your chest from your abdomen. The sound of a hiccup happens when your diaphragm spasms, causing your vocal cords to quickly close. Hiccups will typically go away within a few minutes but can last months for some. You might feel a tightness in your chest, throat, and stomach. You might need to see a doctor if your hiccups interrupt sleep or eating, or if they last longer than 48 hours. It may be indicative of an underlying health condition (via the Mayo Clinic).

打嗝是由隔膜的痉挛引起的，隔膜是分隔胸部和腹部的肌肉。打嗝的声音发生在横膈膜痉挛时，导致声带迅速闭合。打嗝通常会在几分钟内消失，但对于某些人来说可能会持续几个月。你可能会感到胸部、喉咙和胃部紧绷。如果打嗝影响睡眠或进食，或者打嗝持续时间超过48小时，你可能需要去看医生。它可能表明潜在的健康状况。

In 1971, Dr. Edgar Engelman was at a party with his wife, who suddenly got the hiccups that didn't go away after an hour. A friend at the party recommended she swallow a spoonful of sugar, and it stopped the hiccups right away. Dr. Engelman was an intern at Stanford Medical Center and started finding patients with hiccups to give his new cure. He claimed it worked on 19 out of 20 patients. He reported his findings to the New England Journal of Medicine (via The Stanford Daily).

1971年，埃德加·恩格尔曼博士和他的妻子在参加聚会，妻子突然打嗝，一个小时后还没有消失。聚会上的一位朋友建议她吞下一匙糖，马上就止住了打嗝。恩格尔曼博士是斯坦福医学中心的一名实习生，他开始寻找打嗝患者用以验证这种疗法。他声称，20名患者中有19名接受了治疗。他向《新英格兰医学杂志》(通过斯坦福日报)报告了他的发现。

How does this work? According to Mental Floss, it's all because of your vagus nerve, a cranial nerve that runs from your brain stem to your colon, making it one of the longest nerves in your body. Healthline notes that the vagus nerve sends information on sensations from your stomach, throat, ears, and digestive tract. Mental Floss continues to explain that the spoonful of sugar works because it distracts the vagus nerve, sending a signal to your brain that tells it to stop the hiccups because something else has come up.

这是怎么回事?根据Mental Floss的说法，这都是因为你的迷走神经，一种从脑干到结肠的颅神经，你身体中最长的神经之一。Healthline指出，迷走神经从你的胃、喉咙、耳朵和消化道发送有关感觉的信息。一匙糖之所以有效，是因为它分散了迷走神经的注意力，向你的大脑发送信号，告诉它停止打嗝，因为发生了其他事情。

Try this old trick the next time you get the hiccups. Allow a spoonful of sugar to dissolve on your tongue before swallowing.

下次打嗝时试试这个把戏。吞咽前，让糖在舌头上溶解一下。